The present invention relates to electrical heating elements and in particular to laminated heating elements of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,307 (Lund et al). Whereas such heating elements are of the laminated foil type having a strip of electrical resistance material arranged in a predetermined pattern between sheaths of insulation material, a problem usually arises when the rather delicate foil heating element is to be interconnected with rather rigid power supply leads.
For many years it has been common practice to connect power leads as integral parts of the heating foil element. As stated in the above mentioned U.S. patent, the resistance strip is soldered to intermediate copper foil terminals which in a later strip are soldered to the power leads. To obtain reliable connections these joints are usually made in the factory and the heating elements are consequently delivered with the power leads connected. An obvious drawback with these conventional products is that the combination of the rather delicate heating foil with the rather rigid power leads makes handling difficult. The risk of tearing is also quite high. The length of the attached power leads also often turned out to be either too long or too short.